Netflix to Crack Down on Password Sharing

With all the tech news coming out of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, you may have missed this story, but it has the potential to affect a lot of us. There’s a company called Synamedia which analyzes data to find the probability that someone else is using your Netflix account. It checks where your account is accessed, the time it was accessed, what’s being watched, and what device is using it. It then comes up with a probability score that someone else is using your account.

According to The Verge, at first sharers will be politely suggested to upgrade to a premium account, especially if it looks like family or friends but if a larger dissemination is suspected, the account will be shut down.

The program uses “machine learning” so that the platform will improve as it is being used, helping to further identifying “consumption patterns.” Beware, college students: The program can identify universities where a great deal of password sharing is taking place. All I have to say is I hope Hulu doesn’t adopt this, too.